WQPT Goes On-Air With New Comark Parallax Transmitter

Comark Parallax UHF transmitter WQPT
(Image credit: Comark)

ORION, Ill.—WQPT has deployed a new Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark 27.5kW Parallax UHF transmitter and is on air serving the Quad Cities area of northwestern Illinois and southeastern Iowa.

WQPT, licensed to Western Illinois University, is a PBS member TV station. Its new HPTV-PRLX-U16 27.5kW transmitter consists of a single rack cabinet equipped with 16 UHF Asymmetric Broadband Doherty final amplifiers, Comark said.

The Parallax transmitter was delivered with dual Exact-V2 ATSC exciters (in main/standby configuration) and a liquid cooling system. Comark also supplied a new RF mask filter system and interconnected coax feed into the facility’s existing RF channel combiner, it said.

The company managed the shipment, offloading and placement of the new equipment into the existing broadcast facility. After the mechanical installation of the new transmitter system was completed, Comark field engineer turned on the new transmitter, performing the complete proof-of-performance testing towards the end of March 2021.

“We are happy that the final phase of a year’s long project has been completed and our viewers are able to get a stronger signal from WQPT’s two channels,” said Dawn Schmitt, interim general manager. 

More information is available on the company’s website.  

Phil Kurz

Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TV Tech. He has written about TV and video technology for more than 30 years and served as editor of three leading industry magazines. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.